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UK businesses lobby for 'transitional' Brexit deal

Britain's business leaders are to pressure the country's Brexit minister to secure a transitional agreement with the EU to avoid a so-called hard Brexit. They say a deal is vital to protect jobs and economic stability.

Representatives from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which speaks for more than 190,000 UK businesses and seven million workers, is due to meet with Brexit Minister David Davis on Friday to push for the country's place inside the EU's single market to remain until the UK's exit negotiations have been completed.

"Negotiators on both sides of the UK-EU talks should aim to agree transitional arrangements as soon as possible," the CBI said in a statement ahead of the talks.

"A limited period of transition, beginning when the Article 50 process ends, would provide firms with continuity and certainty, protecting jobs and trade flows," the statement added.

The UK is the worst performing economy of western nations, while British consumers have suffered the longest decline in their spending power since the 1970s. Manufacturing has been hit as well, with Britain's car producers among those calling for a transitional agreement.

Britain's Brexit Minister David Davis has begun negotiations on the country's divorce from the EU

Mike Hawks, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, called for a 'back-up plan' in order to protect Britain's status as an attractive market for car manufacturers to do business.

"We accept that we are leaving the European Union and we share the desire for that departure to be a success," said Hawks last month.

No to cliff edge

"But our biggest fear is that, in two years' time, we fall off a cliff edge - no deal, outside the single market and customs union and trading on inferior World Trade Organization terms. This would undermine our competitiveness and our ability to attract the investment that is critical for future growth."